SLIP AND FALL ACCIDENT INJURES WOMAN ON PUBLIC SIDEWALK IN HUNTINGTON PARK; SETTLEMENT OF $175,000 OBTAINED FOR TORN ROTATOR CUFF INJURY.
Slip and fall accidents (also known as trip and fall accidents) sustained on public city sidewalks can cause serious injuries. Our client was walking on a sidewalk in Huntington Park in Los Angeles County and slipped and fell, thereby tearing her rotator cuff. Similar to premises liability, governments can also be liable for injuries sustained on public property due to negligence. The city government tried to deny liability by raising a defense that cities often claim; that they did not have knowledge of the defective condition with enough time to fix it. Slip and fall cases against a city for defective condition of public property can be difficult for accident lawyers to prove, but we were able to settle this case for $175,000 against Huntington Park.
Although trip and fall cases with government liability are tough cases, they are definitely winnable for slip and fall lawyers. Our client was walking on a section of sidewalk where there was a parking lot to her left. She was not looking down at where she was walking as she was concerned about her safety from the cars entering and exiting the parking lot. She tripped over a 2 inch rise in the sidewalk and fell down. She was a middle age woman who had prior medical problems, but tore her rotator cuff during this fall. She had one surgery to repair her rotator cuff. She did not suffer any loss of earnings as she was already retired at the time of the accident. So how did we collect compensation from the city for her?
We obtained discovery to show that city employees work in that area every week doing landscaping, which thereby gave the city notice of the defective condition. We then hired an expert who testified that this was sufficient notice in which the city could have repaired the sidewalk. And we also hired medical experts who testified that the client’s injuries were directly related to the fall. Even though these types of cases are difficult to prove, we have been very successful in getting just compensation for our clients.
